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Over the course of watching and supporting a lot of football in my life I had the privilege to see some greats of the game. Max Gawn is truly one of the very best I've ever seen. Sure I'm a bias Melbourne supporter but even non believers must find it hard to argue otherwise. He has year after year, been heralded as one of the best players in the AFL over the last decade. And rightly so. He has turned the tide of many a game and was the first captain of the club for half a century to help win us a flag. It's a shame ruckmen don't win Brownlows as much anymore. ( I'm perplexed why he hasn't). After all one could rote statistic after statistic about his on field prowess. But I wish there was another medal. One that encapsulates who Max really is. A damn fine human being and gentleman of gentlemen. Last week we saw Max get angry over an incident that I don't really know anything about. ( I don't know because it doesn't really matter). It doesn't matter because it rarely happens. Max Gawn may show signs of frustration and anger at times but it's not much for an AFL player. And more often than not when it does occur, it seems justified. But that's because Max Gawn has high standards. ( To my knowledge he's never been reported). Standards that go beyond just being a simple AFL player. He is a captain. And he takes this role seriously. Being captain is about leadership. But for Max leadership isn't something that happens for a couple of hours each week on a patch of grass. It's much ,much more. It's about standing up this week about homophobic slurs in the game. It's about taking in a teammate when he may be doing it tough. It's about standing by your mate when they have had to retire from the game. It's acknowledgement of being beaten by a better opponent. It's about visiting sick kids in hospital. Being an advocate of mental health or simply speaking to a fan when he's probably really tired and just wants to get a coffee at a cafe in peace. Like his on field performance, I could keep going. So thanks Max for showing us what a true captain of a club should be. On and OFF the field. I'm sure other Demonlanders stand with me in applause when I hereby award thee the unusually long but very aptly titled... "Captain of captains and gentleman of gentlemen and the best of blokes" medal. 👏. Thank you.

Do posters actually ever inform themselves of the facts ??? Stop posting innacuate, dumb stuff. Schache is injured, didn't play the last game & is not available. Posters still calling for McAdams inclusion despite Goodwin & the Club insisting he needed to play several games at Casey.

Is appreciation week over? I'm ready to go full slag mode again.

Always at the Casey games, as per last Friday night at Princes Park. And on Saturday arvo was there at Como Park to see Kyah Farris-White playing for St Bede’s in the Ammos. Leadership in action.

To be honest it's not even in my top 100. It wasn't even the worst in the march - the free against Max for hitting it out on the full when it pittone who did so and the insufficient intent free against Bowser were worse. Dont get me wrong, it was right below me, so I had a perfect view and it was an absolute howler. Brilliant tackle, that should have been awarded. But, deliberately or accidentally, Kemp tilted his head toward the ground and under pressure, and with the noise about concussion (noise the AFL can seemingly ignore completely when it suits them) i can understand why the umpire made a mistake. That's to say, wrong decision, but there were mitigating circumstances. What makes that free worse in my book is not paying obvious frees, for example clear htb against Walsh when he fended off (cost us a shot at goal) and tracc get wrestled and held at one of the final stoppages 20 metres from our goal. The latter cost us the game as there would have been no time for the blues to score again. In my opinion, not nearly enough attention is paid to the frees THAT ARE NOT PAID, particularly those near the end of close games. The 'they've put the whistle away' phenomena is one of the most ridiculous parts of AFL footy. The umpires job is to pay frees that are there. Even if it doing so, arguably particularly if doing so, impacts the result. Refusing to make a decision is a de facto decision.

Surprised nobody has picked up on this already. FA end of this year. Throw silly money at him to pry him out of Geelong. Double win. Will immediately improve our forward line. Gives us more options.

Lol...I did read it and would be of the view that no book written about MFC winning a premiership could be terrible, even if it was written with crayon, on ancient parchment and in Egyptian heiroglyphics it would still be a bloody good read!

So Ess bblessed with no 5-day break between games for the whole season🙄. Hope they crash and burn. It would be fun if they lost their first final! 🤣

@WalkingCivilWar it’s like you spent the time since the last training report in some geopolitical hotspot, interviewing senior cabinet ministers (but the spell was somewhat broken when you said “Spargypants”). Thanks for getting the scoops!

It's absolutely amazing that the injury prone kid caught smoking on the way to training has developed not only into a wonderful young man, but a premiership captain, possibly the best ruckman in the history of the game and arguably the best captain and player the MFC has ever produced.

The AFL might decided to bring a cheeky Thursday night in to punish us one final time before finals. Oh. Nevermind. Just realised that Collingwood play after us (Saturday night) in Round 23 and the AFL would never do that to Collingwood. I guess we can thank Eddie for that.

If they don't make finals it will be even more fun than them not winning one. 🤣 ... I would resurrect my 'Special Edition, What they are saying thread...' !!!

Fixture has been loaded into The Age early again: Round 16: Brisbane V Melbourne, Friday 28 June, 7:40pm, GABBA Round 17: Melbourne v West Coast, Sunday 7 July, 1:10pm, MCG (WOO A RED BALL GAME AT THE G) Round 18: Melbourne v Essendon, Saturday 13 July, 7:30pm MCG Round 19: Fremantle v Melbourne, Sunday 21 July, 1:20pm Perth time (3:20pm AEDT), Optus Round 20: Melbourne v GWS, Saturday 27 July, 7:30pm, MCG Round 21: Western Bulldogs v Melbourne, Friday 2 August, 7:15pm, Marvel Round 22: Melbourne v Port Adelaide, Saturday 10 August, 7:30pm MCG Round 23: Gold Coast v Melbourne, Saturday 17 August, 1:45pm, HB WTF Saturday nights against interstate sides.

I think it will be in Brown and Verrall. Out JVR and Turner.

Did you see the one where Curnow almost punched Rivers' head off his shoulders? No free. Then seconds later I think it was Max barely touched a Carlton player's shoulder and a free was awarded at CHF for Carlton. I think Riv even had to come off and get strapped up. No doubt it has been mentioned on this or another thread before, but that was also up there. Almost made me switch the TV off.

How come someone from our club does not do this. Does the club see it differently to us the supporters. Cos you hear eff all.

Done good @WalkingCivilWar. You’re hired.

Realistically only JVR and Salem are best 22 locks, and both will be available within a week or two. The sky is definitely not falling yet.

Great report WCW. Howsey as a nickname lot of thought went into that one.

Agree with @DistrACTION Jackson In: Verrall, BBB Out: Turner, JVR Max needs help and we won't get a better chance to debut a ruckman. We need to find out at some stage what he can offer and by the reports I've read he is ahead of Jefferson and Fullarton in terms of output. BBB had 8 scoring shots last week and we need a tall forward, nuff said. Suggest we'd need a runner as sub though. Would love if Max could get through with <70% game time.

THANKS WCW by the way your new nickname is SCOOPS ( Gets all the lowdown )

I hate the Eagles, hope we pump them

..and as a father made a very wise choice for naming his first child!!!

I just watched the Match Review footage of Darling's collision and while Darling isn't my favourite player (perhaps still just because of the 'mystery tent incident' the Eagles used to nudge him down the draft) it is notable that his instincts as the collision approached was to stall his momentum, turn his hips away from the opponent use his hands as a shock absorber and then immediately show concern. None of it was a major action or sudden convulsion, but also none of it created a focal point of impact. I guess I'm just saying that if it had been Brayden Maynard in Darling's postion, Bytel would be in hospital today. With this in mind, I will suspend habitual hatred and will not be hoping to '186' the Eagles this weekend and will settle for a professional 50 point win that plays a couple of our forwards into form. That said, this is a single-game exemption only and I will be out for annihilation again by round 17.

Think you'll find the jumper presentation was more in regards to indigenous jumper and not a debut.

A mark of a true champion is when opposition supporters can’t find something to hate about a player. That’s our man Max. Universally loved

Interesting that one can push an opponent into a contest at speed and head first, no problem, but get suspended for a weak jumper punch. Riiiight...

Bumping this thread solely to allow Zurich a bit more credit for taking a backseat.

Whatever our team line up is can they all synchronise their watches. Turning up to the FIRST bounce might prove effective.....